The Evansville Courier & Press
While we haven't been keeping score, we have learned from talking to local candidates in the upcoming election that a great many of them feel some form of consolidation between Evansville and Vanderburgh County is inevitable.
That is a remarkable change in thinking for a city and county that once voted 2-1 against consolidation, and more recently - less that two years ago - ignored a citizens committee recommendation for consolidation to the point that it quietly melted away.
In fact, we picked up on this new consolidation talk last election year when, as our Editorial Board was meeting with individual candidates, we noticed an uncommon willingness of those running for City Council to suggest that the time may be right for the merger of the city and county.
These are words that, if uttered at all, used to be whispered to news people, and then, often, not for attribution. Such was the concern among elected officials that should they voice support for consolidation, they might be run out of office by citizens who wanted nothing to do with changing their local government.
They suggested a number of reasons for taking a fresh look at consolidation, among them the shrinking size of the city and its tax base and the need for a new leadership model. But nothing much came of that talk last year by City Council candidates.
However, since last year, several developments have motivated local government officials and candidates to begin talking anew, and more seriously, about unification.
The first reason cited by most of the candidates has been what is known as House Bill 1001. There isn't a public official in Indiana who doesn't know what HB1001 is. It is Gov. Mitch Daniels' property tax relief bill, passed earlier this year, to cap the amount of property taxes that local units of government can collect.
The new law has those who run local governmental units all across Indiana concerned about how to raise enough revenue to pay for everything from public safety to public parks.
It is a double whammy for the city of Evansville, which long has had either a shrinking or stagnant population. As more city residents have moved to the suburbs, just outside the city line, it has left behind fewer taxpayers, most of lesser means, to pay for city government. Throw HB1001 into that mix, and you can see the problem.
To compensate, Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel has quickened the pace on annexation. After picking off a small piece of county property on the riverfront, he since has moved to first annex a major commercial district on the far East Side, and next a sizeable residential district that would add nearly 6,000 residents to the city.
The picture that should be crystalizing for county residents who live outside the city is one of either being annexed or of participating in a decision-making process toward consolidation. Indeed, as the city fights not only to survive but grow and prosper, consolidation now seems all the more likely.
We would hope residents and officials would come to see that the consolidation of the city and county does two positive things.
One, it eliminates wasteful duplication. For a county no larger than Vanderburgh and a city no larger than Evansville, the taxpayers simply do not need to be paying for separate but overlapping layers of local government.
Two, it allows for a single point of leadership, a form of government far more conducive to positive economic development.
There is no guarantee that consolidated government would reduce the cost of local government - or increase the cost - but it would at least give us a structure that people could understand, and businesses - new and existing - could work with without confusion. Local leaders who have visited other cities that have consolidated have seen first-hand the progressive results of downsizing local government.
From our talks with candidates these past few weeks, we have detected no particular consensus on the form this consolidated government would take, or on who might lead the effort to consolidate. It could be an organization, a community leader or a group of community leaders or political leaders.
But the candidates - Republicans and Democrats alike - believe it is going to happen, and happen fairly soon.
Good. It is time to move our city and county into the 21st century.